


Project Anubis

by catdean0106



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Bonding, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Human Experimentation, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:10:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catdean0106/pseuds/catdean0106
Summary: When Hazel escapes the bonds of her captor, who performed experimental drugs on her and others, she is lost, angry and afraid. She has a chance run in with Frank Castle, who saves her life and she ends up in his care. Hazel wants revenge and Frank feels a need to help as he has been in her shoes of being wronged before. Together, they embark on a journey to get revenge on her captor, who is simultaneously after her, and he wants Frank dead for taking his best experiment. Frank slowly starts to realize that there may be an 'after' for him and Hazel...and maybe neither of them aren't too far gone to feel something other than just pain.





	1. Summary

Project Anubis started as a highly classified, covert operation that would one day, hopefully, create genetically enhanced humans. 

With enhancements, these subjects could be put on the front lines in war.

They would be..unstoppable.

Project Anubis grew, through privately funded donors, and soon the operation was a go.

Doctor Charles Gaines was the head of the operation, but unfortanately passed away soon after the Project was off the ground.

It left his son, who was a scientist, to take over the operation.

The son was coined The Scientist. 

He worked hand in hand with his father before he passed and was widely known to be the more sadistic of the two. 

The Scientist would stop at nothing to perfect what his father started. 

With more donors backing Project Anubis and top operatives turning a blind eye, The Scientist was able to formulate 10 different mutations. 

It was unknown how the subjects were chosen, but two years ago Project Anubis gained 10 subjects. 

All age twenty-eight. 

All the same blood type. 

All victims in a horrid experiment. 

Two years ago the subjects were apprehended and subjected to horrors beyond their imagination including loss of memory, torture experimentation, agonizing pain, and shaming. 

Certain subjects were trained to fight and kill. 

Flash forward to now...two years later and one of those subjects escaped. 

Experiment X. 

The tenth subject. 

The apple of the Scientists eye. 

His bread and butter. 

The best subject to respond to her mutation and harness the effects.

Hazel. 

The Scientist will kill anyone who stands in his way of getting her back. 

Even if it means killing The Punisher.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set post Punisher S1...like six to eight months after. This chapter starts out with Jaime. He is a crucual character in the story and it is important to read this chapter before going forward. :) ENJOY!

Jaime tugged at the irritating brown apron that hung a little too baggy over his 5'7 frame. The fresh smell of coffee grounds and steaming milk could be heard coming from the espresso machine that he manned at the moment. 

If you would have told Jaime he would be working at a dead end coffee bar five years ago, he'd have laughed and told you that was preposterous.However, breaking and entering through main frames and firewalls one too many times cost him. 

His sister Regina, whom he had little contact with these days due to her Special Ops status, got him out of trouble more times than he could count.And with their parents deceased, it left the siblings to their own devices. And let's be real, he wasn't doing anything that hurt anyone or put people in danger, unless he counted himself. 

Jaime had just been very good at decoding, breaking and entering through hacking and finding things that he wasn't supposed to get his hands on. From time to time he did go snoop where his nose didn't belong. Jaime saw more things than he would have liked to have seen, but it wasn't like he used anything as black mail against people. 

However, if he wanted to do so, he had more dirt on the Mayor than a coffin that was six feet in the ground. His hacker lifestyle came crashing down around five months ago. 

When one goes and hacks into the Pentagon on a dare from some equally talented hackers in the network, well, shit hits the fan and Jaime was forced to do some community service and get a normal job. 

If you called serving coffee to uppity city folks normal, but whatever. 

Regina had barely been able to get him out of this one and he could still hear her berating and curse words to this day. When Regina wasn't angry she was a hot tempered volcano waiting to burst, but when she was angry... the volcano would erupt and all hell would break loose. 

And you best not be on the receiving end of that shit either. 

Jaime still had his cave of electronics in a warehouse that he rented out, but he had been under strict instructions that if he came across the radar once more he would be locked up with all the crazy goons of the city. Regina had given him one last chance to do something other than be a pain in her ass and Jaime had begrudgingly obliged. 

Which is why he was here at The Coffee Bar, real cliché right? 

He worked as a smart mouth barista, making more money than he was probably worth at a coffee bar and biding his time to figure out just what it was that he wanted to do with his life. 

This Coffee Bar shit wasn't going to be forever. He knew that in his bones. Jaime was meant for bigger and better things, but for now, he would play nice and do what his sister asked of him. 

The woman at the coffee bar that had just ordered stood with the patience of a monk. She had long, sleek black hair and thin lips that accompanied honey brown eyes. She was a regular here and Jaime found her presence comforting. 

She had been coming every Friday for as long as Jaime had been working here and they had developed a...kinship, if you could call it that.  
She was private, non-revealing and mysterious. She was also ten years older than Jaime, but who was judging? They never saw one another besides the times she came for her usual.

"Cappucino." He tilted his head at her as he made her drink.

That was also what Jaime called her. 

Cappucino. 

The woman never revealed her name to Jaime, not once. All he knew was that she worked security detail for a special project and that it was a highly classified. He felt lucky that she had given him that much information. 

There were times he found her staring into the oblivion as if she were somewhere else and Jaime wanted to know more than anything where exactly she was going at times like that. 

What did she see on a daily basis? 

What kind of classified security job was it? And why on earth did she sometimes look so incredibly sad, even when she smiled? 

The woman finally smiled, but this time the light in her eyes was dimmed. She smiled on instinct and not as a true result of seeing Jaime or getting her coffee. 

Something was really wrong.

He never poked or prodded when it came to this woman, but their usual flirtatious banter was non-existent today and Jaime actually felt a pang that this woman was troubled. 

"You okay?" Jaime pushed lightly, capping her drink and sliding it over to her. He didn't release the drink though and she hesitated with her thin, manicured hands hovering over his. 

She bit her lip, looked away and pulled her black parka around her a bit more as if she were trying to conceal herself. As Jaime looked at her, he noticed the bags under her eyes that makeup couldn't hide and that her skin in general didn't look up to par. It didn't glow like it once it did. 

How could so much have changed in a few months' time? 

"Yeah, I'm just fine Jaime. Don't you worry about me." 

Her smile widened as if she was trying to fool herself and Jaime furrowed his thick brows in concern. She waved a hand at him as if not to bother about it and he released the coffee to her, their hands briefly touching and Jaime recoiled from how cold they were, yet still felt a small spark in the touch. 

"Aren't we a little frosty today? You're going to catch your death, drink up." 

She finally gave him a genuine smile. A bright smile that could fool anyone into thinking she was just a happy go lucky woman with no troubles in the world. 

She pulled the drink close and inhaled, pausing briefly before murmuring, "As much as I love seeing you I really don't think aprons and coffee are your style." 

The woman then winked and her flirty nature was back.

Jaime laughed, feeling the heat in his cheeks, but when he looked up at her she was staring at him as if she knew his full potential was not in this coffee bar. That was partly because Jaime had told her the bit of trouble he gotten into..she knew he was a reformed hacker. 

She reminded him every chance she got that he needed to be finding a way out of this job. And she also liked to deviate the subject from herself to him. And then..Cappucino walked out with one last look cast over her shoulder at Jaime before pushing the door open to the chilly fall air. Jaime didn't know it then, but that would be the last time he would ever see her. 

_THREE WEEKS LATER_

Jaime wouldn't forget the feeling that washed over him as the news station spoke about the body of a Jane Doe had been found in a park, about five miles outside the city. 

Her face had been pictured on the top right hand corner as the anchor spoke of ligature marks around her neck and a single bullet hole had been the cause of death, execution style. 

His hands numbly made the coffee that people ordered and he scarcely heard the shift manager tell him he needed to step it up or step out for the day. 

No one in this god forsaken place had batted an eye when it was whispered how a customer of theirs had been found dead. They briefly looked shocked, but went about their daily lives. 

Not Jaime. 

Though their friendship had been brief and he only saw her once a week it didn't mean it hadn't affected him. Had he been a better friend he might have noticed how rattled she looked the last time he had seen her, coupled by the fact that she hadn't been back since that day. 

When the door chimed, Jaime looked up and the entire staff froze, including their shift supervisor, Matt. 

Jaime watched as some of the customers stopped drinking coffee and their eyes made a beeline to the sight at the front door; a Detective, flanked by two cops in their bright blue uniforms. 

Jaime fidgeted slightly with the cup in his hand before quickly placing a lid on it and sliding to the man who was waiting impatiently at the bar for his order. Matt looked at Jaime with his black rimmed glassed, pushing his glasses on his nose farther as he mumbled, "I'll-I'll handle it." 

It was the same stutter Matt used when he was accosted by a rowdy customer that wanted a free drink. Jaime shifted from one foot to another and watched as the Detective strolled casually up to the counter, met by Matt and his nervous smile. 

"What can I do for you gentleman today?" 

It was a stupid thing to ask considering everyone that worked there knew it had to be about the woman that frequented their coffee shop.

"I'm Detective Graham." 

_Great, a British prick_

Jaime pursed his lips to keep his comments inside his head before continuing to listen. 

"I have some questions about a woman that frequented this coffee bar...the Jane Doe.." 

Jaime became irritated and quickly stepped up next to Matt. 

"Cappucino. Her name was Cappucino. Not Jane Doe." 

The Detective paused and looked at Jaime as if he had a jackpot. 

"Jaime Salazar, I presume." Detective Graham smirked lightly as if his job was made easier now that he knew which employee in the room to question. 

Jaime cursed quietly for not staying out of it, but also shot the Detective a puzzled look. Besides his name tag that just read Jaime, there was nothing that gave away his last name to this man. 

"Can we borrow him for a minute? It won't take long." 

Matt nodded dutifully without any bothering to ask Jaime if he was okay with it. Jaime rolled his eyes and peeled off his brown apron and chucked it at Matt without a word. The Detective led Jaime over to a booth that was empty and far away from the other patrons in the coffee shop. 

Jaime slid in, his hands pushing back his long thick locks that were beginning to grow cumbersome to style, but Jaime refused to cut them. It was his signature look after all. 

"How do you know who I am?" Jaime bit out with an apprehensive gaze towards the Detective. 

The man was already digging in his pockets and pulling out a notepad and pen. He had dark hair and a face that made Jaime want to punch it and that was only because the man looked stupidly smug. With his all-knowing baby blue eyes made it even harder for Jaime to keep a straight face. 

"I pulled the employee list before coming here...ran some reports. I saw your name tag and connected the dots." The Detective spoke as if the answer was plain as day and it made Jaime feel momentarily stupid. 

Detective Graham didn't even look up as he spoke and was already jotting down some stuff in his notepad. It drove Jaime crazy that he wouldn't look up at him while he talked.

"I saw you had quite the rapt sheet, Mr. Salazar." 

Jaime breathed out his nose in a sarcastic huff of a laugh, "I'm guessing you're new here, Detective." As if not knowing who Jaime Salazar was to be laughed at. 

Jaime played it up, but he knew more than a dozen cops knew who he was, along with the detectives that tried to put him away before his sister had to step in. It definitely meant the man was new to the city. 

This made the Detective look up, "Yes, I am. However, I learn very fast, Mr. Salazar." 

He narrowed his eyes at Jaime until he followed up with rather quickly, "Let's get to the point at hand, Mr. Salazar. How do you know the victim?" 

Jaime sighed bitterly, a feeling of dread bubbling up in his stomach that he wanted nothing more than to push back down and bury. 

"She frequented the place. She came every single Friday, but I'm guessing you know that from pulling her transactions." 

The Detective eyed Jaime in a way that made Jaime feel uncomfortable, but he did his best not to fidget under his scrutiny. 

"That's correct. Now, tell me, what do you know about her? Anything at all you can give me? Was she acting strange, or-" 

He stopped once Jaime cut him off abruptly. 

"Look, I didn't even know her first name. I called her Cappucino because that's what she ordered every single time she came." 

The Detective was writing in his notepad, but Jaime continued as the feeling of a fire stirred in his belly. The the more he talked the more he realized the extent to his emotions at finding out this woman had been murdered. 

"She was quiet about her private life, almost mysterious, but always polite. We had a-" 

The Detecitve stopped writing and quirked a brow at Jaime. 

"We had a kinship. We never saw one another outside of this place and she never revealed much. I just know she worked security for a special project and that's all I know." 

"Special project?" The Detective asked, quirking a brow, his interest clearly heightened. 

Jaime was already shaking his head at Detective Graham, "She didn't go into specifics. Like I said, she was extremely private." 

Jaime had to stop and take a breath; he wiped his palms on his brown khaki's before shaking his head as if an afterthought had occurred to him. 

"She was acting a little strange the last time I saw her, which was almost three weeks ago." 

Detective Graham continued to jot down notes before asking, "Strange as in how?" 

Jaime bit his lip, preparing how he wanted to say this. He didn't want anything to tarnish this woman in his mind. 

No matter what kind of stuff she had been into, they had a connection and she was the only thing that made Friday's bearable for Jaime because he knew he'd see her face. 

"She looked...tired and sad. Maybe even a little afraid, but I have no idea what she had to be afraid of. I asked her what was wrong, but I didn't push..I should've pushed." Jaime mumbled the last part before Detective Graham frowned slightly. 

"Listen, kid, don't beat yourself up about this." It was the first time the Detective had any semblance of emotion with him and it made Jaime glance up at him quickly. 

There was a brief awkward moment between the two before the Detective cleared his throat, "Did she come alone?" 

Jaime nodded, feeling numb about the entire situation. 

"Did she mention anyone?" 

Jaime once again shook his and the Detective continued his onslaught of questions that made Jaime feel more and more aware of the fact that maybe he didn't know Cappucino at all. 

After the questions were done he pressed Jaime once more, "Is there anything you can think of? Anything I need to know?"

Jaime shook his head and felt like in some way he had failed her. 

"Do you have any leads on who she actually was, like her name?" Jaime asked, hopeful that the man could give him something about her. 

The Detective shook his head, "Sadly, no. We believe she was living under an alias, Jewel Than. Does that sound familiar or ring any bells to you?" 

Jaime, once again, shook his head and the Detective clapped his notebook shut before clicking his pen.

"She was a ghost then?" Jaime asked hesitantly and Detective Graham nodded solemnly. 

"Whatever she was into, Jaime..it got her killed. I'm truly sorry it ended this way for her." 

The Detective and Jaime inched their way out of the booth before shaking hands begrudgingly. He handed Jaime his card and gave the speech about contacting him if he remembered anything at all that would help. Jaime requested to take the rest of the day off and Matt let him with no questions asked. 

As Jaime walked back to his apartment with his hands stuff in his coat pockets, he couldn't help but feel the responsibility weigh on his shoulders. The what if's clouded his mind and they did so the entire rest of the day. 

Jaime rifled through his mail the following morning, not bothering to have looked at it yesterday in his despair. However, he noticed a small white parcel sitting on his counter top and realized in his funk, he hadn't even opened it since it arrived. He didn't remember ordering anything, but then again, he did have a habit for late night Amazon Prime spending sprees. 

He pulled at the envelope-like parcel and out fell a small USB. He eyed it wearily before looking around his apartment as if it had been bugged. He looked out his curtain only to see nothing but the restless street walkers and a homeless man near the dumpster. 

He knew his past as a hacker and he knew there was a possibility there was something on here that could lead him into trouble, but he had to know what it was..and what exactly was on it. 

He plugged it into his Macbook and chewed on his thumbnail as the drive opened up to three files. One was a file folder that contained information, the other two were video files and one was labeled Watch Me First. 

Jaime hesitated, his finger on the button that would open the file. To open..or not to open. 

__

To piss off Regina once again... or not. 

__

Screw it

He double clicked on the video and the last person he thought he'd ever see appeared on his screen.

Cappucino.

Her eyes were wild and she seemed to be talking in a bunker of some sorts..the light was dim and he could barely make out what was behind her, but she was very real and very alive. 

She wore a black v-neck shirt, but looked to be sitting indian style, staring into the camera on her own laptop. Jaime felt his heart skip a beat until she started talking. 

"If you're watching this Jaime, I'm probably dead. I want you to know I'm sending this to you because I know you're the person that will help make things right. I know you can help these people. And I know, above all else, I can trust you." 

__

Help these people? Make things right? 

Jaime didn't comprehend, but continued to listen. 

"I was involved with a special project that I probably shouldn't have ever been a part of. I thought I could turn a blind eye and I thought I could be strong enough until the project was over, but these people, Jaime..they've been tortured, abused, mistreated.." 

She put her head down and he could see the fresh tears spring into her eyes when she returned to the camera. 

"The man behind this project, Jaime, he's evil. True evil. They've been testing on people for years, changing them..I just couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand behind something so awful any longer. So I-I tried to dismantle the security protocols, let them escape. It backfired, but one of them got away. 

I'm giving this to you so you can help make things right. You need to find the one that got away. And you need to blow the lid off this organization and expose them for what they truly are. I hope you don't think of me as a monster, Jaime. I can't take back what I've done or the things that I turned a blind eye to, but I can try and fix it. You have a lot of good in you, Jaime and I know you'll do the right thing with this." 

She paused, and Jaime felt his throat constrict. 

"I could only give you a little information in this file to go off of, but I can assure you Jaime, you'll need help with this. Don't go at it alone, but be wary who you trust. This thing..it runs deeper than you could ever imagine." 

There was another pause and he saw the video was nearing the end. And the selfish part of him didn't want her to stop talking either. 

"I sometimes wonder what things could have been like...but things don't always work out as we planned. I wish I had more time to tell you who I am..my real name..but none of it matters now. The only thing that matters now is the truth. You have to find the girl before they do." 

She paused again and a tear rolled down her dainty cheekbones and he instinctively reached out to the computer screen as if he could actually catch her tears.

"Goodbye, Jaime...." 

The video ended and Jaime's hands shook while his heart hammered in his chest. Without hesitation Jaime clicked the second video in the file and watched as a camera captured a woman's side profile making an escape from what looked to be a holding cell. 

She paused to look up at the camera, the black and white video not taking away from the pure look of rage that lined her face. 

And then she was gone. 

Her movements had been so rapid that when he blinked, she had already disappeared from the camera angle. 

In big, bold black letters above her cell read.... 

__

EXPERIMENT X.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clearly, my chapters can be kind of long. And I know we didn't see Frank or Hazel in the first chapter. But, this chapter was meant to set everything up and kind of get you a feel for a couple of the characters that will be involved this story, such as Jaime and Detective Graham. Hope everyone enjoyed & Hazel will be introduced in the next chapter.


	3. Three

Haggard footsteps made their way down the New York City streets. The fall air whipped around the quivering figure, biting at her skin and in turn she pulled her dark grey zip up jacket closer to her body so she was shielded like a cocoon. Her hands were shoved deep within the pockets of her jacket and they grazed the crinkled up dollar bills and change that were hiding in there. 

It was a reminder that some people were still kind. 

She knew she appeared as a homeless person or a junkie, which was why  the young couple earlier today had stuffed some dollar bills into her hand with pitied looks. The hood of the jacket was pulled over her head and around her face to shield herself. 

Under the hood was a mop of tattered and tangled brownish blonde hair, the colors came together to form a more natural hue. It wasn't too dark and it wasn't typical blonde, it was the perfect blend of the two, framing her heart shaped face with long layers. Her eyebrows were unkempt but average thickness, a scar ran through her left eyebrow, onky visible if you were close to her face. She got that when she was four, from falling into the bench seat of her father's piano.

With the hood up could only see directly in front of her, but she knew she would hear anything or anyone before it ever got too close to her. Her almond shaped eyes were fixated on an illuminated red and white sign that got closer as her feet trudged on. 

Diner. Food. 

Food was fuel for her body, and Lord knows she needed fuel. 

Spending the past two years eating bread and other meager foods made her thankful for just about anything she could get her hands on.  
Hell, she'd eat spinnach and broccoli at this point with no complaints, and Hazel had always hated those two greens.

 _'Say it..say I am yours. It's so simple my beautiful Hazel. Think of all the things we could do together...my star pupil.'_

The Scientist's voice echoed in her mind, sending chills and a burning ire straight to her core.

"My-my name is Hazel. A-a-and I am not yours."

The softest muffle of a sentence could be heard from her chapped lips, but to any passerby she was just a mumbling homeless junkie. It couldn't be farther from the truth, but at the moment she blended in with the night walkers of the big city. She looked up towards the dark sky at a cross walk and counted on her fingers to the number three. 

Three nights; three dark skies she had seen since escaping Hell.

This was the third night she had been stumbling around, scrounging for food and money, and appearing just as homeless and lost as she truly felt. Hazel had no ID, no wallet, and no money of her own. She had absolutely nothing to her name other than the dark memories that took refuge in her head.

She had a destination in mind, but getting there had proven to be tricky.It took a day and a half to reach New York by foot, and then she finally reached New York City earlier today. 

The first night after her escape she woke up in the middle of a wooded area with no clue where she was at, and her mind was so fucking foggy from coming off the drugs she had trouble remembering a lot of things.

She could grasp fleeting images in her mind such as her parents, the facility (better known as Hell), needles and IV drips. With the images came the terrifying feelings of uncontrollable rage, but just as quick as they were there they were gone. The mere thought of human interaction at that point in time was frightening; she was like a rabid animal on edge.  

So, she started walking. 

The second night she found refuge behind a dive motel with absolutely zero clues as to where she was geographically. She slept against a dumpster that reeked of rotten food and death. 

Something inside her told her she still needed to stay away from people, so she avoided them at all costs until she could get her wits about her. Her natural instincts of surviving were kicking in whether she realized it or not. It was during the second night that she started to piece together everything that had happened before she ever woke up in Hell. 

She had a name. 

Hazel Jade Flint. 

She had parents.

James and Anabelle Flint.

There was a car crash on the way to the airport for a family vacation her and her parents were going on, and then she woke up in Hell. 

Hell was what she always referred to as the place that had held her hostage for so long. 

When one of the motel residents decided to leave for breakfast she broke into their room with a swift kick of her foot and stole a pair of clothes. Hazel was beyond morals and she needed to get out of the dirty threads she was in and into something fresher. She hesitated before leaving, eyeing the unhinged door, staring at her hands and then the boots she had stolen. 

Before Hell, she'd been soft and innocent..now she was inhuman and strong.

Hazel knew without a doubt she had to put distance between her and the man who had done this to her. The farther away she was the better. One would think it would be as simple as going to the police. She could have found a local hospital, called the police and even the paper for a good story. Something inside of Hazel went off like a warning flare any time she thought about finding someone in uniform for help.  

Her mind was a catastrophic war zone, which gave her violent images that danced across her eyelids, causing ripples of anxiety to course through her veins and tremors that made her hands shake. Every prick, poke and prod..every excruciating torture session, every single thing they did to her was still alive and well in the back of her mind. 

The memories so fresh it was as if she were still living in the nightmare. Hazel pulled her hands from her pockets and looked at them in wonder. The smooth skin was like marble, yet so dense and durable it resembled that of an exoskeleton. 

It didn't feel different, nor did it look different to the naked eye, but up close you could see the unnatural glow to her veins. Hazel had developed extraordinary senses and that didn't include the durability of her skin, her penchant for seeing in the dark and the fact that her hands could rip out a man's throat in the blink of an eye. 

It was all because of what they did to her.

No, what HE did to her; the Scientist. 

A horn honked, jolting her from her thoughts, and her eyes cut to the middle aged man in his car that sat there giving her a stupid look. She stayed rooted in her spot on the sidewalk even though her crosswalk sign was giving her the go ahead to move forward. She blinked slowly, and whatever the man saw in her eyes sent him shrinking back in his seat. 

His face went pale as he watched with pure shock when the woman revealed eyes that resembled that of an animalistic-like hue of yellow. Hazel quickly continued walking, her worn and tarnished boots hitting the ground with purpose again as she neared the lit up sign. 

It blinked a couple times and Hazel hesitated at the door of the diner. She was hungry and had a little money. She knew she had to eat to keep her strength. One look in the window gave her relief as only two other patrons were in the diner. 

__

Minimal people; low risk. 

Hazel walked into the diner on shaky feet, not daring to remove the hood from her head as she kept her eyes trained on her boots. The first thing that hit her was the smell of coffee and bacon. The second thing she did was scan the entire place for exits. 

Two exits; one up front, one in the hallway next to the bathrooms. 

"Welcome, honey. Find a seat anywhere." 

The nasal sounding voice made Hazel jolt and the woman in the diner gave her an odd look, "Jumpy, huh?" The waitress smiled semi-sweetly before coming around the bar towards the tables, her hands outstretched towards the bleak and sickly colored booths, inviting her to have a seat. She wore a blue outfit and her rubber soled shoes made sticky noises as she walked across the floor.

The whole thing almost sent her into a panic attack. 

She closed her eyes for a second, breathed in and out through her nose and steadied her hummingbird heartbeat. When she opened her eyes she saw the large man in the booth was now looking at her, his dark eyes assessing her. 

She looked away quickly and sat herself in a booth that was closest to the restroom. She also knew there was an exit down here, which was why she chose this particular booth. 

Hazel looked up as the woman, whose name tag read Peggy, came up to her table hesitantly, "Sweetie, you need somethin'? You okay?" 

Hazel nodded silently before finding her voice. It was scratchy and raw, but it was still there, "Coffee." 

"Oh, we got plenty of that. Wanna' see a menu?" 

Hazel nodded, the bacon smell making her practically drool. However, upon seeing the menu she realized she only had enough for coffee, a tip and maybe a side of bacon. Hazel frowned and when she glanced up the woman was returning with her coffee. 

"Decided on anything?" 

Hazel panicked and looked at the menu with wide eyes, "I-I think I can get a side of bacon.." With frenzied hands she threw the cash and change on the table, counting it out as her heartbeat started to flood her ears. 

"Woah, woah. Honey. Slow it down. I'll get you a side of bacon." 

The woman pushed the money back in the center of the table and Hazel nodded, pushing her ratty locks out of the way of her face. They were dirty and she knew she looked like straight up trash right now. She sure as shit felt like it too. 

Hazel noticed Peggy stopped by the man's booth and he mumbled something to her and she nodded silently before scurrying off. She stared down at her hands, never daring to look back up. She was paranoid and continuously felt as if she had eyes on her everywhere she was. 

Hazel hadn't had actual contact with normal people in years, but considering everything, she was handling it a bit better than she had originally thought she would. 

_If I could just ignore the raging anger that burned in my belly_

She picked up the white mug of coffee with both hands, the heat of the cup would have burned her old hands, but now it didn't. She sipped it, taking in the acidic, yet bitter taste of the liquid she hadn't had in years. Hazel could scarcely believe she was actually here at a diner and enjoying this. She had to pinch herself to ensure that all of this was in fact real. 

A few moments passed and Hazel looked up at the sound of rubber soles on the linoleum floor. The waitress brought back two plates. Hazel knew she didn't order two things, and was surprised when the waitress set down two plates of bacon. 

"I-I didn't order two." 

The lady smiled and said lowly, "I know." She turned towards the burly man that had his back to them at his booth. She then looked at Hazel with a knowing smile before re-filling her coffee. 

"He figured you could use another plate. Put it on his tab." She whispered softly.

Hazel moved her head slightly to the right of the waitresses frame to see the burly man in the booth from behind. He was broad shouldered, hunched slightly, a black jacket covered him and his hair was invisible due to the baseball cap.

"He comes here often." Peggy said with a coy smile, her cheeks turning pink at the mere mention of him. 

Hazel was unresponsive to the woman's emotions towards the man because all she felt was suspicion. Peggy left her, but not before refilling the man's coffee. She could hear the deepness of his voice from her booth as he thanked Peggy.

Was he a spy? Was this a game? 

Did he know who she was? 

Hazel hadn't realized it..but in her panic she had gobbled up the entire two plates of bacon. She swallowed and wiped the grease off her face with the back of her hand. She was about to get up and leave after getting too suspicious when the natural urge to pee hit her all at once. 

She really didn't want to pop a squat in a back alley again.

Hazel got up from the booth and walked back towards the bathroom, locking the lone stall door and getting to business. It was only when she was done that she stood straight up in panic, pulling her torn and dirty skinny jeans up as something alerted her.

It wasn't a noise, but a voice. The words being said made her blood run cold. 

"Evening, we just need to know if any of you have seen this girl?" 

Another voice chimed in, but still made her insides curl all the same, "We don't want any trouble, but we have reason to believe she was here."

The next voice was female..the waitress, Peggy, of course. 

"Who are you?" 

"Homeland Security. It's an urgent matter." 

"Got a badge or ID, sir?" She could hear the waitress' voice getting louder as she continued to question the men. 

Hazel stealthily unlocked the bathroom door as quiet as a mouse. She held her breath, her body already getting ready for fight or flight. She opened the door a smidgen and slipped out, just out of eyesight of whoever was in the diner. 

Hazel flattened her back against the wall and looked to her right; the emergency exit. 

Curiosity got the better of her and she peered out from behind the wall. The man in the booth from before was already getting to his feet, while Peggy and the four men in black gear with guns dangling at their sides were all in a stand off.

The lead man held up a photo and she felt her heart drop. 

_It's me._

Their hands hovered dangerously close to their guns as the waitress continued to block them from coming any further into the diner. 

"We don't want any trouble, ma'am." 

"Homeland Security my ass." The waitress continued with a grimace. "I ain't no fool and I wasn't born yesterday. Homeland don't come in full on riot gear. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave my diner if you can't show the proper identification." 

It was at that comment the burly man from the booth turned slightly, looking behind him in Hazel's direction and their eyes met instantly. There was desperation inher eyes and she knew he could see it. The fear lit up her irises, allowing him a small glimpse of her innocence.

The man could see it as plain as day, and he immediately knew these men were here for her. The photo just sealed the deal..

"Sir, sit back down right now!" One of the suited men yelled at the burly man. She could hear the tremor of fear in his voice due to the size of the mysterious diner patron.

Hazel saw just how giant he was now. 

He was a huge brute of a man..his shoulders so wide, his size so intimidating that even she quaked. They had every right to be afraid of the boulder standing in their way. Maybe it was a trick of the harsh light in the diner, but she swore she saw a warning look in his eyes for her to run. 

However, it was the wrong time to be peering around the wall because one of the men saw the plates at her empty booth and from there he looked up and saw her.

"There!" He shouted. 

His partner and the two men behind him all locked their eyes on the target, which just so happened to be Hazel. She widened her eyes while watching the slow movement of guns being drawn up to aim. The sound of a gunshot riddled the entire diner, sending the waitress and the old man at the bar down to the ground. 

The man from the booth had already disarmed the soldier closest to him, using his own gun against him with a single shot before using the dead solider as a shield against the other three armed men. 

Hazel didn't stick around as her instincts were telling her to run. No one but her knew the stakes at getting caught..no but her knew what those people would do to her if she ever went back. 

It would be far worse than death and Hazel couldn't go back.

__

__

I'm NOT his to keep.

She slammed through the emergency exit so hard it rattled the entire diner. As she attempted to disappear into the night, she found herself wondering what would become of the man at the diner.


	4. Four

Hazel's running footsteps were thunderous on the ground, but it was nothing compared to her heartbeat booming in her ears. Her adrenaline started to surge and it gave her the boost she needed to clear the alleyway behind the diner, jump a chain length fence and land in a crouched position on her two feet as stealthy as a Seal Team Six operative.

She felt the asphalt beneath her fingertips briefly before getting up and continuing to run. She ran down the back street behind the diner, barely missing a vehicle that was turning right at a red light. The horn blared in her ear, but she paid no mind to it as her pounding boots continued down the pavement. 

She took an immediate right into an alleyway and in the distance she saw a building, more like a warehouse to be exact, with large windows that looked as if they had never been washed. Hazel ran through the alleyway that led to the warehouse and came across another chain length fence. Her breathing was ragged and she looked around quickly, scanning left to right and left again before scaling the fence like a banshee and landing with a light _thud_ on the other side. 

Hazel stopped in her tracks in a crouch position, her eyes scanning the perimeter for enemies, which she could see very well since it was dark outside. Her eyes adjusted better since the changes made to her body by the Scientist, and on instinct she felt the harrowing rage bubbling within her at the mere thought of him and the torture. 

_Calm down...breathe_

The perimeter looked clear so Hazel scampered across the concrete and found a door with a chain and lock on it. She tugged once, twice and on her third tug she ripped the chain and lock from the door. The rust from the chain came off on her hand so she wiped it on her hoodie quickly. 

She barreled inside, letting the door close behind her lightly before whipping around to see an empty two story warehouse with crates stacked on the far right side. There were a few card tables spread around farther back. On the second floor it looked to be nothing but a large office up top. She stilled and closed her eyes, listening for heartbeats and her nostrils flared as she took in the scents. 

Hazel started to step further into warehouse, her footsteps cracking slightly on stray debris from the wooden crates. She walked over to the wooden crates, taking her steps two at a time until they were right in front of her. There was bubble wrap and stuffing inside the crates, and whatever had been taken out of them was already gone. She moved the stuffing around and threw it back behind her until all that was left was the empty crate. 

She sniffed lightly.

The only thing she could catch a whiff of was an aluminum and gunpowder like smell., She twitched her nose in annoyance trying to figure out the smell before freezing abruptly. Her hands remained pressed onto the sides of the crate, gripping it harshly until the wood splintered the palm of her hands. 

_They're here_

She looked back at the door she had just entered and before she could even step towards it busting glass resonated all around her. Hazel watched as men busted through the glass on the top floor of the warehouse, their rappels following underneath them as they zipped down quicker than she had expected.

Their black riot suits gleamed in the moonlight that filtered through one of the windows. She swallowed thickly and looked around, turning in circles as they all dropped to the ground and formed a perfect circle around her. 

A circle that was getting uncomfortably smaller as they closed in on her. She felt her hands tighten into fists at her sides, ready to fight before a man in a suit lifted his visor to reveal hardened blue eyes.

"STAND DOWN!" He raised his hand, and she cocked her head to the side as the men behind her tightened the circle even more. Hazel smirked his way and she saw the snippet of fear behind his eyes. 

"Did he send you?" Hazel asked, and the man's right eyebrow twitched in irritation. She took it as a yes. 

"Put your hands on your head, now! You're surrounded. Just get down on the ground. We aren't here to kill you." 

He wasn't holding a gun, but they all had their fists and riot gear at the ready.

"Then why did your guys shoot at me in the diner?" 

The man shook his head, "Reynolds got ahead of himself and doesn't listen to orders. He wanted you dead and ended up getting himself and others killed." 

He didn't mention the mystery man at the diner and Hazel kept quiet about it. She briefly wondered if these men assumed the deaths had been her doing. 

"We have strict orders to bring you in and you're surrounded. It's over. Lucky for you, the Scientist wants you alive, _Experiment X_. And I DO listen to orders." 

She couldn't believe this man was trying to make himself into a good guy for not trying to kill her, and bringing her back to the Scientist was just as bad as death, actually it was worse.

He smirked as if he thought he had the upperhand.

Until he saw Hazel's eyes flash much like an animal's eyes. The sensation of her rage was so gripping even the man before her could feel it on a physical level. Hazel could feel the shift of the man's arrogant demeanor cripple into that of a scared solider. 

_Who's smiling now?_

"Then you must know what I am, correct? What he made me into?" She retorted with venom as the room grew incredibly tense. 

Hazel saw one of the guys to her left shift nervously. They were second guessing the mission, and they were starting to wonder if she would be too much for them to handle. 

They were right. 

A desperation clawed at her belly that she couldn't put into words. But, it was there, clawing rabidly and desperately trying to get away from anyone that was in cahoots with the Scientist. The trembling took over her body and she knew what was coming next.

It was inevitable. 

She embraced the surge of rage and felt her body start to shift into the weapon she was made into, "You know what happens to a caged animal when it feels threatened?" 

Hazel asked glancing around at the suits that had her pinned down in a tight circle. None of their visors were up except for whoever the man was in front of her, but she could smell their adrenaline and their fear. 

It both excited her and scared her

"It attacks." She whispered with menace. 

Hazel quickly crouched down to the ground to sweep her leg underneath the man that had been speaking to her and he quickly fell to the ground. 

She grabbed his head and ripped the helmet off his head before using it as a weapon to swing at another man who had started to accost her from the right, hitting him upside his own helmet so hard he saw stars.

The new attacker stumbled back while the man on the ground scrambled to get up, and then they all descended upon her. It only took a matter of seconds for her skin to pull and twist as the exoskeleton that covered her body made itself known. 

It was an eerie sheen on her skin that took over. It literally glowed, giving her the slightest ethereal aura, but it was more scary than pretty. Coupled with her eyes that flashed dangerously and the guttural cry that escaped her lips she was far from beautiful. 

She was actually a terrifying fucking sight to behold.

"Shock her!" 

The man that had spoken to her before started to yell out, but it was short lived. Hazel sent a fist to his temple, ultimately killing him from the crushing blow to such a sensitive area. 

Whatever she did, she had to stay away from anything that would shock her. Hazel crouched down, counting six more men. She narrowed her brows before lunging at one of men brandishing a large knife to her left. 

He briefly paused; startled that the knife had made contact with her skin beneath her unzipped hoodie, yet it didn't pierce it. The knife made an odd sound against her skin before he dropped it in terrified horror and she gleamed her pearly whites at the man viciously. 

"How cute." She smirked ruthlessly, taking his body as if it were as light as a feather and throwing him into one of the other men that started to lunge. 

The two men fell to the ground dazed, but not knocked out. She could hear the electricity humming before it got too close and she knew someone was behind her. 

Hazel's quick senses gave her time to dodge the man behind her as he sent an electric poker towards the middle of her back. Hazel moved out of the way like a viper, quickly evading every time he tried to shock her until she was able to kick him square in his chest. 

He had gotten tired and he was breathing heavily. His exhaustion was his downfall, coupled by the heavy riot gear that weighed him down. As the mountain of adrenaline rose, so did her need to let it out. They hadn't even seen the finale yet. 

Hazel was in the process of turning towards the other three men, while the other two were starting to get back up from being thrown into one another. 

In the blink of an eye, the farthest man to the left was lifted from the floor and he made a sickening sound. Something protruded from the center of his chest, bypassing the Kevlar vest and the other men backed away in shock. 

The man in riot gear looked to be floating, as his boots were writhing in the air, blood dripping from underneath his helmet until his body dropped to the ground to reveal the burly man from the diner directly behind him. 

He had a large, bloodied knife in his hand. The mystery man's chest was heaving up and down with his own surge of rage. 

_What the hell is he doing here? ___

____

____

It only took a few shocked seconds for the suits to react and the two closest to the burly man attacked, while the other two from before advanced on her. 

She could feel the adrenaline reaching its peak and she launched her attack, kicking one man in the chest, sending him back while launching herself off his chest simultaneously. 

She pushed off and landed on the other man with her legs wrapped around his neck. She threw herself down towards the ground, launching the man over herself and twisting so fast with her legs that the audible snap reverberated in the room. 

The man from the diner met her eyes briefly at the snapping sound and she quickly pushed away from the lifeless body before facing the man she had kicked in the chest. He was wobbling slightly, but smirked. His smirk caught her off guard and she tried to assess what he could be gleeful about..

Before she could turn around and dodge it, the man from earlier with the electric poker stuck her in the side of her abdomen, catching her during a minor slip up. 

It only takes a second for a slip up. 

The poker cancelled out any exoskeleton that would protect her body and she dropped, screaming bloody murder as the electric current momentarily shattered her safety net of skin.  

It was going on for too long. He'd fry her, and it would render her immobile. 

The electric current continued to flow through her veins, her body writhing until the rage within her started to grow more and more until the pain that encompassed her body only gave her momentum. 

_Focus. Use what he taught you. I won't go back. I won't...Then take the pain and use it_

She screamed a guttural cry, pushing all the energy from her body to the two men on either side of her. A very visible blast emitted from her entire body like a sphere and moved outward hitting the two men closest to her so violently their bodies flew. When they landed they didn't move a muscle. Their bodies had instantly broke from the inside out the moment the blast hit them. 

She was breathing heavily, attempting to catch her breath from the electrical current that had sent her to her knees. The blast of energy had completely shredded her hoodie, well fried it was more like it. 

She shoved out of it, the jacket falling off effortlessly to reveal a black tank top. Hazel was on all fours, her hands shaking beneath the concrete floor of the warehouse. Her body wearing thin from the exertion she had just let out and the electricity that had just scrambled her system. 

She was covered in grime and sweat and it dripped off her body with a glistening effect. There was nothing pretty about it..she certainly didn't look like an angel. With her animal-like eyes and predatory nature she was more like a dark entity.

She started to feel herself losing consciousness and her heart almost dropped to her stomach at the mere thought of blacking out now.  

Fear gripped at her instantly.

Not here..not now. 

Electricity was her biggest enemy. It could penetrate her exoskeleton and render it useless and couple that with the adrenaline wearing off it all crippled her..

Even labratory experiments had their weaknesses. Hers were electricity and her adrenaline. Her adrenaline fueled her and then it drained her. It also caused her to lose control at times, and she would become a danger to herself and others around her.

It was a catch twenty-two and The Scientist had been working on a Berzerker Formula right before she escaped that would lengthen her combat time and allow for better focus.

She certainly didn't want to stick around for that shit.

Hazel moaned aloud in frustration and pain, her first instinct was flight. She had to get out of here..she had to leave. She started to push off the ground, her limbs feeling numb and her eyes feeling heavier by the moment before a pair of boots entered her line of sight from the ground. 

Her eyes darted to the dead bodies where the burly man had been and realized with a startled jolt all of them were lifeless. 

He killed them.

The sickening burden of her own actions washed over her like a ton of bricks. She'd killed too. Not like it had been the first time, but still..part of her had enjoyed it. Revulsion at herself sank into her belly for a brief moment.

Suddenly, the man from the diner silently offered her a hand, which she stared at for a long moment.

"Offer won't last, lady." The gruff voice let out as a warning. 

Hazel felt her gears turning quickly, assessing everything and processing all that had happened. Her insides were telling her to stay away from him. He was foreign and strange, which had her cowering back ever so slightly.

She stared for a moment longer before eyeing him warily, "After what I just did..you're not afraid of me?" Hazel looked around at the dead bodies in her wake while the man huffed. 

"I've seen a lot of shit in my day and from the looks of ya', you ain't about to be conscious for too much longer." 

He was smart too. 

Hazel realized this as she took a daring leap of faith and placed her bloodied and bruised hand into his own calloused one so he could pull her up. He was able to assess her in a millisecond and his skills in combat seemed lethal, much like her own. 

When she met his gaze she saw no fear, but dumbfounded confusion. He was staring at her as if she were something to be figured out..something not even he could comprehend. 

_He isn't afraid of me_

They stared at one another for a moment before Hazel mumbled, "Why would you help me?" 

The man ran his hand over his military cut of dark hair before mumbling, "Seem to be asking myself that same damn question." 

Hazel swayed slightly, but his large hands were no match for her body and he caught her before she could fully fall. He lifted her up awkwardly and she gripped his shirt, pulling it towards her in an effort to pull him close. She didn't know this man and her senses were throwing mixed signals to her on who she should trust and not trust. 

Every fiber in her being was saying to run, or kill this man and then run, but she knew it was impossible. She was on the verge of collapsing and she'd be at this man's mercy soon enough. She pulled him close and he narrowed his brows in confusion as she whispered with desperation, 

"Please, don't let him have me. I am NOT his." 

Hazel felt the black veil creep over her and she panicked, well on the inside she panicked, but there was not a damn thing her body could do about it. She was spent and the adrenaline had taken its toll on her body as it always did in combat. She was practically doing leaps and bounds to try and stay awake, but it was to no avail. 

The darkness surged and she allowed it to pull her under.

"Hey, wait a minute, wait! Let who have you?" Frank's voice was rising as the girl slipped from his fingers and into a black void of darkness right before his eyes. 

She was out stone freaking cold. 

"Let who have you?" Frank shouted in one last attempt, glancing around at the mess of bodies warily, before looking back at the girl. 

"Son of a bitch.." He mumbled, sneering slightly at himself for letting the opportunity pass by without asking her more questions. 

Like how the hell she fought like an operative, or the fact that she seemed to be able to emit a beam of energy from her body that ultimately killed people. 

_You couldn't have just gotten coffee and gone home, right Frank?_

Frank could hear sirens in the distance and if his timing was correct, not only could more of these guys be coming, but your regular day officers would be here too. He didn't need to be seen when that happened. 

As much as his gut was telling him to leave her here, it was just as loud when it was telling him to take her with him. He groaned at his inner demons, weighing the options before shutting his brain off and reacting without logic. 

Logic said to keep her here, to leave her and go about your business and leave this mess behind you. The other part of him reacted with emotions. Emotions said to do the right thing.. to help this woman. He grumbled to himself in agitation as he realized his mind was already made up the second she collapsed. 

So much for that after Karen Page had been telling Frank about.

Truth was..there was never a possibility of an after for Frank Castle. There was only the next mission. With those final thoughts, Frank quickly stole off into the night with the mystery girl in his arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! She does have weaknesses, just like everyone else. Poor Frank..should have just gotten his coffee and gone home LOL We know Frank can't just let stuff like this happen without getting involved! ;)


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT - This is a flashback chapter to her capture and captivity.

_Two Years Ago_

Hazel's parents had spontaneously planned a two-week vacation to Europe and had last minute begged her to come with them. 

Hazel worked as a Vet Tech and getting time off wasn't necessarily the easiest thing in the world, but the owner of the practice had a soft spot for Hazel and when she asked for something, he usually obliged. Her parents weren't necessarily the most spontaneous of people, but she hadn't questioned why they wanted to get out of the country for a couple weeks. 

Her parents were retired; her mother finally stopped teaching and her father not too long ago finally quit his construction job. Her mom volunteered with the local charities and did her part more hours a week than most retired people. Her father was the "house dad", he kept up the house and did all the usual dad duties, but he was also recovering from a back surgery that damn near took his life. 

Needless to say, her father took it easy these days. 

The last thing Hazel remembered about that day they were heading to the airport was the smile her mother gave her in the rearview mirror of their SUV. It was not her usual soft smile, it was actually a very nervous smile. Hazel never got the chance to ask her mom if everything was okay because the next thing she knew they were being t-boned by another vehicle running a red light.

Hazel's world went completely dark. 

When Hazel finally woke up for the first time she felt lightweight, if that were even a thing. She felt as if she were floating and when she tried to budge a muscle she found her arms were crisscrossed on her chest and something was preventing her from moving at all. The second thing she felt was a rush of cold and all her arm hairs stood on end as goosebumps flooded every inch of her skin. 

Her eyes attempted to open a few times, but they were stuck as if her lashes were all clumped together. She finally willed herself to open her eyes and when she did her heart leapt in her throat.

Panic seeped into her bones. 

_I'm floating in water_

Her limbs tried to flail about, but it was to no avail from being tied against her chest. She panicked for a few moments thrashing around before realized the water in the tank didn't burn her eyes, nor did it prohibit her from seeing all the people in white lab coats looking at her. 

One man stood out though. 

He was wearing a black suit and his hair was slicked back. He had an impassive and lifeless ire to his eyes that sent her heart to her stomach.

She tried to speak, but she realized her mouth was covered by an object that was helping her breath in the water-filled tank. Hazel felt her heart take off like a beating drum and her eyes shot open fully in fear. 

She wanted to scream, yell, kick and scream, but she couldn't. She was completely immobile and to her despair, she was completely nude as well. The mouth piece supplied her with air and she started to hyperventilate until she realized she could actually breathe and she was not drowning. 

"Calm down, Experiment X." 

She could hear through the tank she was in too. 

The man in the dark suit smiled like the devil as he took a step towards her tank, cocming his head to the side curiously. He had a sinister look to his eyes and Hazel felt her stomach leap to her throat in mortal fear. 

"You're fine, just breathe. In and out, in and out." His voice was smooth and delicate, like velvet, but it had an eerie edge to it that made Hazel cringe with disgust. 

She wanted to know where her parents were at, she wanted to know what she was doing here, and she wanted to know what in the fuck was going on.

The man smiled as her brows narrowed.

"You finally decided to wake up. I guess we can get formalities out of the way. My name is Edward Gaines. But, I go by The Scientist. You were formerly Hazel Jade Flint, now known as Experiment X."

The man whipped out a clipboard from behind his back and started reading down a list. 

"Only child, not married, no significant other. Top of her class, kickboxing in college, ran a few marathons and..oh here it is. Ended up as a Vet Tech at Angel's Vet Hospital. How sweet." 

His smile was not sweet. 

"I understand you're confused and you want to know what is going on, but we really don't have time to condition you to your new surroundings,"

"I'll just cut to the chase. You were chosen for a great opportunity to become something more with the Project Anubis program. Don't you want to be more? Don't you want to..evolve?" 

The last word sent shivers down her spine and she screamed inside the tank, bubbles spewing around the mask that gave her oxygen. The Scientist just smirked as if her fear gave him pleasure. 

"You'll come around. I know it." He placed the clipboard behind his back again and walked around the tank with a sinister gait to his steps.

"You love animals, don't you? I saw your files and you have quite the history in animals of all species. From domestic to wild. I saw you did a few wildlife tours in Africa, and you also flew out to Colorado to a Wolf Sanctuary for two weeks to volunteer."

_How does he know this stuff? Where are mom and dad?_

"I thought..who better subject to tamper with animal DNA than you. You'll become closer than ever to some of your favorite furry friends." 

His smile was devious, yet devoted. He truly believed in whatever he was saying and that was a dangerous thing. 

"I have a few other things up my sleeve for your experimentation as well. I think you'll really like it."

He turned to walk away before stopping in his tracks and coming back closer to her in the tank where she floated. 

"Oh, and there is no escape from this. This is your life now. You belong to me, Experiment X. I have high hopes for you. Just this feeling I get from you..." He stared at her intently, his eyes raking over her nude body before meeting her frightened irises once again. 

"You'll change. You'll evolve. And you'll become part of something bigger than you could have ever imagined. But first, this is the hard part." 

He paused, then frowned as if his next words were going to pain him to say.

"In the next thirty seconds you're going to feel like your veins on your fire, because in hindsight, they will be. You're probably going to pass out from the immense amount of pain, but that will pass. Once it passes you'll wake up and Phase One will be complete." 

Hazel felt like she was about to pass out just from his words alone. They were slowly registering in her brain and she started to try and rip out of her binds, but whatever held her immobile was too strong for her. The Scientist walked away, not turning to look back as the first wave of immense pain flooded her veins and she screamed bloody murder inside her tank. 

The fire that ignited inside her body spread and it felt as if she was ripping from the inside out. Ten to fifteen agonizing seconds after the unbearable pain started, Hazel felt her body slip into oblivion and it was lights out. 

When Hazel awoke for the second time she was in a room with four padded white walls and she felt fabric against her skin, which meant she was wearing clothes. Her eyes fluttered and she lifted herself with her right hand off the cold floor, a groan escaping her lips that was more reflex than her trying to speak. 

Hazel's eyes forced themselves to open and though blurry for a good few seconds, they finally regained focus and clarity. The room was small, but not small enough to where she felt claustrophobic, but it was uncomfortable to say the least. 

She pushed herself off the floor so that she was sitting with her knees in a bent angle, her bare feet touching the cold floor, sending shivers straight up her legs and towards her bottom. Her mouth was dry and her limbs ached with a heaviness she couldn't quite put her finger on. 

Hazel's mind swarmed with images of a man in a suit, people in white coats staring at her floating in a water tank and..and the pain.

Hazel's eyes shot open wider than before and she leaned against the wall for support as she stood up carelessly, her mouth moving, but no sounds came out as she tried her best to speak. 

"Let me.." She finally spoke lowly, a hoarse whisper until she breathed in deeply, gathering every ounce of strength she could muster into her petite lungs and then screamed.

"Someone let me out! Please! HELP ME!" 

The strength she used to belt out in the closed off room had her gripping the wall for support again, and she realized with a start that some kind of drug was wearing off from her body right now, a sedative most definitely. She had worked with enough of them at the clinic to know the side effects, and she seemed to have them all.

Hazel groaned once more and then slid down the wall as her strength came and went, but it was only when a voice in the room echoed around her that she felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. 

"You're awake, Experiment X and quite alive. I'm impressed." 

"P-please..where are my parents?" Her raw voice cried out, her hands wringing one another raw as she looked up and around for any source of the voice. . 

A door to the far left corner was hidden in plain sight. She could see the place where the walls changed and she knew that even though everything in the room appeared the same as far as the fabric, a door was definitely there. 

Not only could she see it, but she could also smell a slight draft that wafted from that area and it reeked of a stench she was far more used to than one would think.

Death. Decay. Hospital equipment. 

Her mind was too jumbled and disoriented to realize that a normal human being wouldn't be able to smell those things from that kind of reinforced door. 

"Experiment X, your old life is behind you now. Such things are trivial at this point. Right now, you see, you are changing, evolving as I suspect. Once the drugs wear off you'll see. It'll be just the beginning of Phase One and we will start on Phase Two."

Hazel felt her body quake and her eyes started to bring forth tears that she hadn't realized she was capable of given her state of shock and anxiety. When she tightened her eyes and re-opened them she felt the warmth trickle down her cheeks in torrents. 

"Please, I want to go home, I want to see my parents. Please..don't.."

Her cries were endless, and her voice weakened as she cried harder, the realization that she was in trouble and in a very bad place fully sinking into her bones. She had never had anything like this happen before her in life, it was the stuff of nightmares and bad movies. 

It wasn't something that happened to Hazel Jade Flint. 

"What did you do to me?!" Her voice bounced off the four walls around her and she looked around helplessly as the ominous voice on the other end ceased for a few moments. 

"I made you better, Experiment X. This is your home now, no one is coming to get you. The sooner you grasp this, the better off you will be. Now sleep, get more rest and we will reconvene in the morning." 

"No, please..please..don't! Let me out!" Her voice cried out, wails of gutted pleas emitted from her lips, demanding that the voice come back and let her go. 

It was futile though. 

She was wasting her time because no one would come for her and no one would hear her cries of horror and agony. Hazel cried that first night until no tears were left, until her eyes were blurred and her stomach felt it was turning upside down on itself. She cried until she felt empty, and her mother was no where near to wipe them up like she would when she was a young girl.

It was only when she cried herself to exhaustion that she realized something was wrong with her. Her body was rigid as she leaned against the farthest wall, curled in a fetal position and in that stillness, she could feel her body in a way she hadn't while she was crying her eyes out. 

She stopped for a moment to close her eyes and take in a labored breath. It was only when she concentrated on her body and all the mechanisms that made her a human being that she realized something was very, very wrong with her. 

The worst part was she couldn't understand what exactly it was, but she knew something was..different. A clawing at her belly was prevalent, though dormant, but it was there. Like something was hiding in her body and waiting to burst out. 

She licked at her chapped lips, taking a moment to process everything else that had happened. Her mind seemed to jump from one thing to the next as her mind started to panic. 

She was entirely screwed if she didn't even know where she was at because then no on one else did either. Her parents wouldn't know where she was at and she would never be found. 

And what would happen to her parents? Where were her parents? 

Would they tell her parents she got kidnapped? That she died?

In that moment Hazel felt utterly alone, defeated and more helpless than she had ever felt in her entire life. The trembling ceased to stop as panic and shock continued to course through her veins like the flood of tears had. She knew at some point it would stop just as the tears had. 

Hazel had come from a very loving set of parents that had instilled in her that life was precious, life was meant to be lived to the fullest and she should always try and keep a positive outlook on everything, even in the bad times. It was all about learning, growing and just doing whatever made her happy. Soon after, she learned animals made her happy and caring for them would end up being her calling. She always knew it, even as a little girl. 

As she grew up she became a woman that loved life and she cherished every waking moment; loving the feel of the sun on her skin and the wind in her hair, or even the waves that lapped against the dock at the harbor. 

Everything about life enticed Hazel. 

Needless to say, Hazel Jade Flint loved living and she loved life too much to ever think about the alternative below the dirt.

However, in just a short amount of time everything about Hazel Jade Flint had changed. That first night in captivity, as her eyelids drooped, and her heart rate slowed to a steady rhythm, it was the first time in all of Hazel's existence that she wished, and prayed, that she would just never wake up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed a brief flashback of her captivity, this was just the beginning. Throughout this story I'll show everyone some flashbacks of her time with The Scientist and just how radically she changed. I wanted to drive the point home that Hazel had a beautiful life, but that in one moment everything was shattered.


End file.
